Thursday, December 16, 2004

Thought on Opinions

What color is better, black or white?

Is there a correct answer?

Why do we feel the need to express an opinion so strongly?

Can't two answers be correct at the same time?

posted by A Simple Jew @ 1:26 PM   8 comments

8 Comments:

At December 16, 2004 at 5:06:00 PM EST, Blogger Keren Perles said...

For the first time in the history of my reading your blog, I disagree with you. Okay, so you didn't quite make a statement there for me to disagree with, but where your question was going...I disagree.

I think that it's very important to take a stand on certain thing. I think that if we don't, it makes us wishy-washy. PC are two letters that are so glorified in America, but we don't have to do the same. (Yes, yes, some things that fall under the category of PC are positive. I'm not talking about those.) It's a live and let live world, huh? I can be who I am and you can be who you are and as long as we're not physically hurting each other, we can all live happily with no differences of opinion.

Wrong.

That's WRONG. That's a new "Western Society concept", one that I very much disagree with. If there is an absolute truth in the world, which you and I both believe, then there is in every person the need to discover that truth. We have a drive towards figuring out who we are and what we believe. It's what causes ba'alei tshuva to completely turn their lives around. That drive, that need to search, to find, to discover. You've got to know where you stand on things; if you don't, it means you're not thinking.

And there IS an absolute truth. Which means that each person is struggling to figure out what is right in each sphere of his or her life. So of COURSE once they form their opinion they're going to stand up for it. If they didn't, they'd be a wishy-washy nondescript blob.

At least, that's MY opinion ;)

 
At December 16, 2004 at 5:47:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

STX you are a dope.

Absolute truth may be out there, but it is impossible for a human being to capture. We are finite, limite dby our perspectives, emotions and experiences, and truth is infinite.

Therefore compromise is essential. When something is not important (and most things are not important) as in SJ's example, you throw up your hands and say: IT DOES NOT MATTER

 
At December 16, 2004 at 9:31:00 PM EST, Blogger TRW said...

Fascinating how people feel that they must insult others to get their point across strongly...

Stx is saying that there are important things to make a stand on. I don't think that's wrong. If you live your life "live and let live" in EVERY aspect, what do you believe? Who are you? What's important to you? Anything? Is there anything you stand up for?

When it comes to things like which color one likes better, no, opinion is not so important. When it comes to life-altering decisions, it is. (Which after re-reading your post, anon, is what I think you're saying..)

(Am I a dope too now?)

 
At December 17, 2004 at 7:22:00 AM EST, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

My intention in writing this posting was addressing people's need to have strong opinions on everything, even down to silly things such as what is better American cheese or Swiss cheese?

I was not addressing the issue of opinions on Yiddishkeit or an accepted halacha, what I was addressing was unimportant things. I hope this clears up the confusion.

 
At December 17, 2004 at 9:00:00 AM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I stand up for freedom, for the right to make your own mistakes, etc.

But as SJ's confirmed, I read him correctly (and on the second reading you read me correctly, too)

 
At December 17, 2004 at 11:13:00 AM EST, Blogger Keren Perles said...

Ah, SJ, sorry about that. Shouldn'ta jumped to conclusions like that. Guess it shows some of my own insecurities...

Anon--there are polite ways, or even neutral ways, to disagree with people. Please, please learn them.

 
At December 17, 2004 at 11:16:00 AM EST, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

Stx - No need to apologize. Have a great Shabbos!

 
At December 17, 2004 at 1:08:00 PM EST, Blogger Keren Perles said...

Thanx for the compliment, Anon. Of course, I must admit, it would mean a lot more if I knew who exactly it came from...Not that you would have the guts to tell me, of course.

Sorry y'all, didn't mean to come across as harshly as I did. I might have taken what you were saying in the wrong way, SimpleJew. I just got nervous, because it sounded like one of those "stop being so annoyingly frum and live and let live" kind of blogs. Should have known better, SJ, sorry.

 

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